Friday, April 30, 2010

There's no doubt the ongoing case of Canadian Forces Colonel Russell Williams is one of the odder crime stories to pop up in Canada in recent years. Williams was commander of Canadian Forces Base Trenton, one of the most important of Canada's air bases, when he is alleged to have murdered Armed Forces Corporal Marie-France Comeau and bus company employee Jessica Lloyd, as well as raping two other women. This week he was also charged with multiple counts of break and enter and theft, reportedly of women's underwear, including those of his victims before and after his assaults. And all this went on while he was a very busy man in his role of base commander. Given the lurid and bizarre nature of the case there's also no doubt a made for TV movie will likely appear based on the story sooner or later. Thinking about who might be cast in the role the obvious thought was Paul Gross. Whether Gross would consider playing such a role is another question. I also wouldn't be surprised if the braintrust at the Law and Order franchise take a crack at the story on one of their shows, altered to make it about a fictitious American military officer of course.

Gas prices took a rather annoying jump this week. Gas in Saskatoon is now 107.9 cents a litre in most locations, up 6 cents from the previous price. I haven't heard any explanations yet, but my guess is that the recent oil drilling platform disaster in the Gulf of Mexico may get the blame.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Since the Walmart location in Confederation Mall closed earlier this year there has been a lot of speculation of what might replace it, especially since it was reported soon after that negotiations were underway with a major retailer to fill the space. We now know that the retailer in question is Canadian Tire. The obvious question is why. Canadian Tire already has a large store located just across the street from the mall, one which in its current form isn't that old. What advantage is there to spending a large amount of money moving the store a short distance, other than gaining more room? Reportedly the new Canadian Tire will be the largest in the country when it opens in 2011. According to a CKOM report negotiations have been in the works for a year, and the move has prompted other unnamed national retailers to consider setting up outlets there as well. I would guess mall owners ICR made Canadian Tire a very generous leasing offer. Perhaps they have a potential client for the current Canadian Tire property waiting in the wings as well, as that store will close when the new one opens.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

I don't regularly watch CSI, and that's a good thing. This week I ended up watching some episodes of the damn show, and it led to me sitting around staring at my TV instead of doing stuff. Spike plays the series a zillion times a week, making it easy to end up blowing a couple of hours watching. Of course I don't have much willpower too much of the time in any case.

I've made a few posts on here related to the shows produced by Fresh TV, including 6teen, Total DramaIsland, and Stoked. Fresh now have their own blog, dealing with both their current activities and a current series on the history of 6teen. They also link to Fin McCloud of Stoked's Twitter feed for those of you into Twitter.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

After my last post I realised I haven't used my history tag much yet on the blog. And that got me thinking about all those little used tags that are floating around on this blog and others. So, lets be nice to our tags and use some of the lesser used ones this week. Show them they're not forgotten.

I was watching a program on History Television Tuesday night about Cleopatra. The comment was made that based on a modern reconstruction of what Cleopatra may have looked like Julius Caesar wouldn't have fallen for her because of her looks, because she wasn't hugely beautiful. But how would anyone know that? There's no way of knowing what Caesar thought was attractive in a woman. It's not like he left an autobiography telling us what he found hot.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

I took my regular trip up to Long and McQuade today. (L&M is the closest Canadian equivalent to the US Guitar Center chain.) In the acoustic room I found a slightly weird instrument. It was a Fender ukelele with a Telecaster type headstock. Fender isn't a name one associates with ukes, and ukes generally don't come with that style of headstock. But ukes seem to be a bit more popular of late, so Fender obviously wants a share of that market, and decided to give the instrument a distinctly Fender look.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Another nostalgia find from YouTube. I don't remember this ad specifically, and I suspect the Canadian market might have had its own specific ads. But I definitely remember thinking Quasar brand TVs were cool back in the '70s. I also remember the female vocal bit at the end. For years I would pull on the cabinets of TVs, hoping to find the "works in a drawer," because when you're a little kid a secret drawer full of electronic gizmos is cool! Now if I could find the spoof of these ads from the '70s Wayne and Shuster shows, which featured a female voice shrieking "Crazar!"

Friday, April 09, 2010

I don't think I've seen the price of gas this stable in a long time. After a month of no change the price of gas in Saskatoon finally went up this week. It is now 103.9 cents a litre at most locations. Frankly I'm surprised it didn't go up just before the Easter long weekend given the increase in travel at the time.

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Today I noticed a car with a "Keep Christ in Christmas" bumper sticker. Thinking about it I realised the proper bumper sticker should actually read "Keep paganism in Christmas." After all Christmas isn't the actual date of Jesus' birth, for which no specific date is known. Rather it was a co-opting of celebrations of the Winter Solstice, moved three or four days later in a rather poor attempt to hide the fact. Or maybe it was a clever moving of the date, allowing pagans to keep celebrating their traditions while pretending they'd adopted that new fangled Christian stuff.

Monday, April 05, 2010

It has been reported recently that Stephen Harper intends to replace Governor General Michaelle Jean when her term comes to an end. It's fair to say a lot of folks will be sad to see her go, as she's proven better in the office than many expected. In any case I would like to remind Mr. Harper that I'm available for the job. Just give me a call. Think outside the box for a change instead of appointing another political insider.